The Times They Are A-Changin'

Swedish Whitebeam trees in bloom now in my neighbourhood. (Lots of them!)

Lately, every time I sit down to do something at the computer, it seems that some problem or other pops up. 

The other day (I've already forgotten why or how), I managed to get logged into the wrong Blogger account on the Google browser on my computer, and never got round to blogging whatever it was I then indented to write about. There seems to be so many layers of extra security and pincodes and cross-references and back-up accounts everywhere these days that my aging brain is (evidently!) finding it hard to cope with it all...

So when I started the computer again tonight, I first had to try and sort out the mess it seems I unknowingly created last time. (I seem to have succeeded, for now, but alas I'd not be able to retrieve my steps this time either...) 

That (+ more) reminded me of the Dylan song - but when looking that up on YouTube, I also discovered (or rather, re-discovered) that YouTube has removed Blogger from the symbols of places to easily share to. So I had to get into the mysteries of using "embedding" and HTML view instead. (If I was successful, the video will appear at the bottom of this post when I eventually get round to posting...)

The Times They Are A-Changin' also kind of sums up that the past week or so has been rather full of information about other things about to change. 

Last week I mentioned having been to listen to info about the plans for an old football field in my immediate neighbourhood to be turned into a public park. 

Yesterday I attended another info meeting; this time about plans to install "entrance phones" in the buildings on the housing estate where I live. Last summer, problems in some buildings caused the (municipal) housing company to suddenly, around midsummer, lock the entrances 24/7 - and keep it that way until... February, I think it was, when it suddenly got back to normal again (i.e. only locked at night). 

For me the main problem with the doors locked around the clock was my regular food deliveries. I had to go down (and because of my knee, use the lift rather than walk) to open the entrance door for the delivery guys - but still needed them to help me carry everything all the way up and into the hall of my own flat. So personally, when the doors suddenly were unlocked again some 7-8 months later, I felt only relief. So much easier when no explanations needed every time! 

Now (a few months after the doors were unlocked again) a notice was put up inviting us (I think probably a few buildings at a time) to information about plans to install an entrance phone system. The meeting was held in the basement of a neighbouring building, and I guess we were around 20-30 people. I had looked up some info beforehand about modern such systems, so didn't find it too hard to follow. Apparently nowadays they connect the entrance phone with one's own phone number. So in the future, when visitors push a button with my name on it at the entrance, the call comes in on my cellphone, and after verifying that it's someone I want to see, I can just push a button on my own cellphone to let them in.  Sounds easier than having to go down in person to open the entrance, at least! 

However, the installation of this system will also add an extra fee to our monthly rent. (Which might be considered a problem by tenants already struggling as it is.) So what they're doing now is trying to get the info out to everyone and make sure we understand; and they're also collecting our consent - or not. And it seems they have decided to go democratic on this for each individual building. If 51% of the tenants in a specific building wants the system, it will be installed. But if 51% of the tenants in a specific building do not want the system, it will not be installed there (and the entrance left open in the daytime, locked at night). So in the area as a whole, we may end up with some buildings having the entrance phone system, and others not.

I signed a form giving my personal consent already at the meeting - also weighing in the info I took part of last week, about the transformation about the nearby field to a park, which is likely to bring more "visitors" (not least teens) to this neighbourhood. 

What will become of it all in the end, still remains to be seen - but I'm thinking that either way, The Times They Are A-Changin' ...

I  might add that as far as I can recall, this is the first "info meeting" of this kind that has occurred during the 18 years I've been living here. (Inviting anyone interested instead of just discussion between landlord and representatives of a tenants' association.)

For me, the meeting made it a bit clearer to me what kind of problems started the whole discussion in the first place. It seems that it's people living near the playground in the middle of the estate who have been having the most problems with youngsters not actually living here hanging around there in the evenings, and also entering nearby buildings. 

After the meeting, outside, I got talking to a woman of around my own age who turned out to be my current wall-to-wall neighbour (next entrance). I think it was last autumn that she moved in. (I've never seen her properly, as there's frosted glass between our balconies and neither of us is so tall that we see over it). She's been a much quieter neighbour than the one who lived there before her, so when I understood where she was living, I introduced myself. Someone else had mentioned earlier incidents in our close neighbourhood (including the entrance where she lives) and I felt a bit of time perspective might be in place... I have lived here 18 years, and while there have undeniably been a few scary incidents - seen in the longer perspective, I still consider  it a good neighborhood "on the whole".